1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to medical devices, and more particularly, to systems and methods for ablating or otherwise treating tissue using electrical energy.
2. Background of the Invention
Tissue may be destroyed, ablated, or otherwise treated using thermal energy during various therapeutic procedures. Many forms of thermal energy may be imparted to tissue, such as radio frequency electrical energy, microwave electromagnetic energy, laser energy, acoustic energy, or thermal conduction.
In particular, radio frequency ablation (RFA) may be used to treat patients with tissue anomalies, such as liver anomalies and many primary cancers, such as cancers of the stomach, bowel, pancreas, kidney and lung. RFA treatment involves destroying undesirable cells by generating heat through agitation caused by the application of alternating electrical current (radio frequency energy) through the tissue.
Various RF ablation devices have been suggested for this purpose. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,576 describes an ablation apparatus that includes a plurality of wire electrodes deployable from a cannula. Each of the wires includes a proximal end that is electrically coupled to a generator, and a distal end that may project from a distal end of the cannula. The wires are arranged in an array with the distal ends located generally radially and uniformly spaced apart from the catheter distal end. The wires may be energized in a monopolar or bipolar configuration to heat and necrose tissue within a precisely defined volumetric region of target tissue. Such devices may be used either in open surgical settings, in laparoscopic procedures, and/or in percutaneous interventions.
Generally, ablation therapy uses heat to kill tissue at a target site. The effective rate of tissue ablation is highly dependent on how much of the target tissue is heated to a therapeutic level. In certain situations, complete ablation of target tissue that is adjacent a vessel may be difficult or impossible to perform, since significant blood flow may draw the produced heat away from the vessel wall, resulting in incomplete necrosis of the tissue surrounding the vessel. This phenomenon, which causes the tissue with greater blood flow to be heated less, and the tissue with lesser blood flow to be heated more, is known as the “heat sink” effect. It is believed that the heat sink effect is more pronounced for ablation of tissue adjacent large vessels that are more than 3 millimeters (mm) in diameter. Due to the increased vascularity of the liver, the heat sink effect may cause recurrence of liver tumors after a radio frequency ablation.
Accordingly, improved systems and methods for ablating tissue would be useful.